New Vantage Group (NVG) is a leader in the US structured angel movement and has innovatively mobilized private equity capital since its inception in 1997. NVG is led by John May, who has participated in a myriad of activities as a leading expert on angel investing, including co-founding the Angel Capital Association (current Chair Emeritus), authoring two books on angel investing (the seminal “State of the Art of American Angel Investing”), and providing angel education services in conjunction with the Kauffman Foundation. NVG has clearly positioned itself at the vanguard of the angel investment movement.

In 1998, New Vantage Group founded its first Dinner Club, a manger-led LLC that enabled members to determine who could join, in which companies they would invest, the format of meetings, and how due diligence would be conducted. The Dinner Club marked one of the first times investors had to put up money, not just for deals, but in order to belong to a club managed by a professional staff. The Dinner Club quickly became oversubscribed with 60 members. In response to this high demand for structured angel groups, NVG organized the eMedia Club in 1999 and the Washington Dinner CLub in 2000, each with over 75 members. After the NASDAQ bubble collapsed in 2001, NVG continued to manage the dinner clubs, while looking for ways to bring new life to the early-stage investing industry.

In 2003, NVG launched the Active Angels Investors (AAI), a group that follows the pledge-fund format: members pay dues and pledge to participate in deals on an opt-in basis. AAI was the first group of its kind in the Washington DC area and invested in 29 companies. In 2008, NVG created its fifth angel investing group, D’Arch Angels, which specialized in early-stage investments in technology start-ups in the defense industry. In 2012, AAI merged with New Dominion Angels to form the largest angel membership network in the region, with meetings in both Richmond and Northern Virginia.

NVG also plays a significant part in global angel initiatives. In 2006 NVG partnered with Focus Enterprises, as well as investors in the UK, to become general partners in London-based Seraphim Capital, LLP. Seraphim focuses on high-growth, innovative UK companies seeking to penetrate US markets. NVG helped to organize 21 US angel investors as limited partners in the Seraphim fund. In 2007, NVG worked with EBAN (European Business Angels Network) and ACA (the US Angel Capital Association) to create the World Business Angels Association. More recently, NVG has worked with Endeavor, the Angel Resource Institute and USAID on projects supporting angel ecosystem development in places such as Turkey, Indonesia and Costa Rica.